TWENTY-THREE

A.N: Say hi to the first ever trans character I've ever written. I didn't realise I've never made one before, so here you guys go

2104

"Jaden! Will you hurry up?" Alexander called down the hallway. "Sarah and I are already ready. We're just waiting for you."

"We're going to be late, dad!" Sarah yelled, rolling their eyes.

A thud sounded from Jaden and Alex's bedroom. "I'm coming, give me two seconds!" Jaden said.

"You've said that ten times already," Sarah said, causing Alex to laugh.

"I can hear you," Jaden said as he walked down the hall, buttoning his shirt up as he went. His hair was starting to thin and turn grey, a messy mop above his slowly wrinkling face. Alexander was in much the same state, his body a little over fifty now. His hair had begun to fall out and there was a bald patch in the middle of his head, which he hated with a passion.

Despite how the wrinkles and the hair loss made him look, he couldn't help but love that it was even happening. Years ago, he never would have expected to start ageing again, but there he was, growing old with the man he loved.

Even though they were both growing old, he couldn't help but find Jaden to be as handsome and attractive as he had been when they first met. He didn't say it to him all that much, mostly because the younger man got embarrassed by the words. Jaden seemed to be self-conscious about the way he looked now, while Alexander was more than happy about it.

"You look good," he said when Jaden finally reached them.

"I look old," his soulmate replied. Beside them, Sarah made their way out of the house with a roll of their eyes. They were nineteen and still they were grossed up by the little ways the couple showed their love.

"So?" Alex said. "I do too. You saying we can't look good because we're old?"

Jaden gave him a droll stare. "No, of course I'm not," he said. "I think you look amazing."

"Then maybe you should start thinking you look amazing too," he told him. "Because I know you do."

"It has been twenty-nine years and you are still the sappiest person I have ever met."

"You love me."

"I do."

"Dads!" Sarah called from outside. "We need to go! I don't think Luka would be too happy if we were late for his birthday!"

"Coming!" Alex called, grabbing Jaden's hand and dragging him out of the house. The door clicked shut behind them, locking automatically. Sarah was waiting in their car, eyebrows raised expectantly.

"Took you two long enough," they said as the couple got in. "Are you two ever angry with each other?"

"Not in front of you, kiddo," Alex replied.

Sarah's seat spun around to face them as the car started. "I will never understand it," they muttered with a shake of their head. They looked so much like Alex, it was almost scary. The same chocolate brown hair and young, round face. They'd gotten Abigail's hazel eyes, but they seemed to suit them more than Alex's blue ones ever would. They wore their hair in a pixie cut and eyeliner ringed their eyes. They never wore much makeup, and the little amount suited them perfectly.

"You will one day," Jaden said, "You've still got three years before you stop ageing."

"And then wait decades for someone to come along," they replied. "Doesn't sound like much fun."

"It's not," Alexander said, glancing out of the tinted windows. "But it's worth it."

Sarah sighed, pressing their head against the glass. "Didn't you have to wait like, eighty years or something?" they asked.

"Yeah, and it was horrible," he answered. "But it was worth it in the end, aside from the car accident."

"We've all heard the story about the car accident, old man," Sarah said with a laugh. "I don't need to hear it again."

"And here I thought my children were meant to be nice to me."

"Where did you get that idea from?"

"You two were so lovely as children, what happened?" Jaden asked.

"We hit our teenage years," Sarah said.

Alexander rolled his eyes, watching the houses and shops pass by in a blur. He loved his children with all his heart but they had grown to be more sarcastic than he and Jaden combined, both of them. He didn't know where they had gotten it from.

Luka was waiting outside a neat little cafe for them as they pulled up. He waved excitedly at them as they hopped out. The young man had grown to look more like Abigail than Jaden, but Jaden didn't seem to mind too much. There were aspects of him in the twenty-two-year-old's face, in the shape of his jaw and the size of his nose. His blonde hair and green eyes belonged to Abigail though.

"Hey dads," he greeted as they came over, wrapping them both in a hug. He'd been studying abroad for the last year. It was the first time the couple had seen him outside of a video call in months.

"Happy birthday, kiddo," Alex replied. "Sorry we're a bit late, your father took forever to get ready."

"And then they decided to make goo-goo eyes at each other in the doorway," Sarah supplied with a wave of their hand.

"So, the usual then?" Luka asked, laughing when Sarah nodded. "And how's my favourite sibling?"

"I'm your only sibling," Sarah said, pulling Luka into a hug.

"Exactly."

"I'm alright. This gap year is just boring for now. I'm getting everything sorted so I can to Europe with Aasimah and Tom," they replied. "Happy birthday, loser. What's it like being immortal?"

"Kind of boring, if I'm being honest," Luka said. "I am super hungry though, so let's get some lunch. Dads? Are you okay?"

Alexander, who had been watching his children talk in a comfortable silence, widened his eyes at the interruption. "Yeah, we're fine," he said, feeling Jaden's hand slide into his own. Luka had chosen his favourite cafe for his birthday lunch, something that had been organised weeks in advance.

"How are you feeling now that you're twenty-two?" Alex asked when they'd sat down in the cafe and given their orders.

"Excited, I guess," Luka said. "I don't feel any different than I did yesterday."

Jaden huffed out a small laugh. "Yeah, that's usually what it's like," he said. "There's a big deal over it, but it never really different from any other birthday."

"Except for the fact that you're immortal," Sarah added.

"Except for that."

On the opposite side of the table from Alexander, Luka sighed and leaned back into the chair. "Honestly, I just don't want to wait for as long as you did, dad," he muttered, staring at Alex. "Like, pa waited a decent amount of time, but you..."

"I know, kiddo," Alex replied, thinking back to the decades he had waited and searched. He'd been so lonely. He didn't want either of his children to go through the same things he did. He wanted them to be happy. "I'm sure you won't be waiting as long as I did. I was a rare and unfortunate case."

"And even if you do," Jaden started from next to him. "Know that your soulmate will come along eventually. There's never been someone who didn't have a soulmate and there never will be. Sometimes, it just takes time."

"I know, but that doesn't mean the waiting isn't going to suck," Luka replied.

"It will always suck," Alexander told him truthfully. For years he'd been answering his kid's questions about what the waiting was like, but he hadn't been able to alleviate any of the worries they had about it. If anything, he thought he made it worse. Jaden had always been better at talking to them about soulmate related stuff.

"Besides," Sarah said, fiddling with a straw. "They have those AgeFinder's that go on your wrist now. That will alert you the second you meet them."

"Eventually, they're going to start embedding those things into your arms," Alexander muttered. He'd retired early, having worked for the company for over a century. He was done with working for the rest of his life and his savings from the job would be enough to support him and Jaden for decades.

Even before his retirement, the company had started production on smaller and more efficient devices that could be taken anywhere. He'd been happy with where things were at when he'd left, knowing that the company could only grow and get more successful.

"Oh, is Isaac coming along today or did he have to cancel?" Luka asked, pulling Alex from his thoughts.

"Their flight got delayed," Jaden answered. "He'll be in later tonight and will come to see us tomorrow."

"Damn," his son muttered.

"Still got that big ol' crush on Melanie, huh?" Sarah teased, a huge grin on their face.

Luka glared at them. "I do not!" he said, even though everyone at the table knew it was a lie. He'd been crushing on Isaac's eldest daughter since he was a teenager. It was a little bit cute if Alex was being honest.

His family laughed, loud and joyous, a beautiful sound. Alexander stared at them with soft eyes, an overwhelming feeling of love washing over him. Years ago, he never would have expected to have anything like it in his life, but there he was, sitting with his soulmate and two children. He couldn't ask for anything more.